Mr Shannon Callaghan1, Mr Kheeran Dharmawardena1
1ARDC, Australia
Biography:
Shannon has 20 years’ experience developing cross-organisational decision systems for defence, law enforcement, government and research. As part of the policy team, he advocates for a coherent policy environment that supports research excellence, impact, integrity, innovation and efficiency.
Kheeran has over 2 decades of experience in delivering ICT services within the higher education and research sector, including infrastructure delivery, service delivery, data management, IT & enterprise architecture and eResearch. He has a special interest in the socio-technical challenges involved in the delivery of data and information infrastructures.
Abstract:
Australia’s rapidly expanding data ecosystem faces mounting challenges in scaling effective governance amid increasing complexity driven by the digital economy, AI innovation, and shifting geopolitics emphasizing data sovereignty. Existing governance models often struggle to scale effectively, limiting the potential for secure, trustworthy, and large-scale data sharing among diverse stakeholders.
This presentation explores the emerging governance framework for complex data ecosystems that is based on the International Data Spaces architecture which emphasize trust-based approaches that prioritize the governance of the data ecosystem with an emphasis on data sovereignty, meaningful decision rights, stakeholder empowerment, and flexible collaboration mechanisms.
The presentation explores how Australia will benefit from expanding its focus from governance of data to governance of the data ecosystem. By doing so we can start to create a more holistic and adaptive data landscape that can support the dynamic needs of modern data driven research and innovation. This exploration aims to inform policy development and foster discussions about building resilient, scalable, interoperable, and sovereign data infrastructures.